Tomorrow night's first quarter moon appears in the zodiacal constellation Virgo, close to the right star Spica. Spica is one of the brightest stars of late spring and early summer. Use the moon to much valued celestial object. Spica is so large compared to our sun and voluminous too. The star is really two stars, one seven times bigger than our sun and the other is four times.
Their brilliance, hard to imagine, is 12,000 times brighter than our sun. The star is 250 light years away, one of the farthest bright stars in our sky.
Next Wednesday night, the gibbous moon moves up near the bright red star Antares, one of the biggest stars in our night sky. If Antares were our sun, our Earth's orbit would be inside the star. Antares is a bright glowing red star in the zodiacal constellation Scorpius. The star is twice the distance from us than Spica, a total of 554 light years away.
Trying to imagine the scale of Spica's two stars and Antares boggles the mind. Use the moon to help you find them.
| Day | Sunrise | Sunset |
|---|---|---|
| Fri., July 12 | 5:17 | 8:16 |
| Sat., July 13 | 5:18 | 8:15 |
| Sun., July 14 | 5:19 | 8:15 |
| Mon., July 15 | 5:19 | 8:14 |
| Tues., July 16 | 5:20 | 8:14 |
| Wed., July 17 | 5:21 | 8:13 |
| Thurs., July 18 | 5:22 | 8:12 |
| Fri., July 19 | 5:13 | 8:11 |
| Day | Max (Fº) | Min (Fº) | Inches |
|---|---|---|---|
| July 5 | 80 | 70 | 0.03 |
| July 6 | 77 | 69 | 0.34 |
| July 7 | 77 | 70 | 0.03 |
| July 8 | 86 | 73 | 0.00 |
| July 9 | 86 | 73 | 0.00 |
| July 10 | 83 | 71 | 0.00 |
| July 11 | 83 | 73 | T |
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